Ombré Balayage Hair

| my new Ombré Balayage hair |

Welcome to September! I’ve been looking forward to this month since December 25th, 2015. Because on Christmas morning, I presented my husband with two tickets to see Adele on opening night at Madison Garden on September 19th (he wisely chose me to take to the concert). And to make this month even sweeter, I’ve got three mini-vacation getaways planned. As they say, it never rains but pours – and I’m feeling really grateful for all the experiences in store for me this month.

Ombré Balayage Hair

In preparation for a fun-filled few weeks, I decided to change my hair. I’ve been reading all about the Balayage and Ombré hair color techniques and anxious to try one or the other. After consulting with the colorist, we decided to do a combination of the two, called Ombré Balayage. This technique is a two-step process, starting with the Ombré. They sectioned my hair into three equal parts; the top, the middle and the ends of my hair. The idea is to create a gradual lightening of the hair from the roots to the tips. For me, I started with my natural dark brown color and ended up with a caramel color at the tips. Once that was done, they started on the second step and painted on highlights and lowlights to achieve the Balayage effect which essentially mimics what your hair looks with natural sunkissed highlights. I’ve included some before and after photos below.

If you are not familiar with either of these hair color techniques, below is a description. I’m pretty conservative when it comes to my hair, but I felt ready to make a change. I always remind myself that it grows back and that helps take any trepidation away.

Ombré

Ombré hair is the gradual lightening of the hair strand, usually fading from a darker color near the roots to a lighter one at the ends. The word ombre is a French word meaning “as two-toned.” Ombré can be very subtle or very striking. The look you want to achieve will depend on the technique and level of lightness.

Balayage

Balayage is French meaning “to sweep.” The balayage technique was developed in France in 1970’s and is called a freehand technique as the colorist applies color with hands rather than foiling. When the color is being applied, the majority of the brush strokes are horizontal in nature to coat the front and back of the hair strands. In balayage, the colorist “sweeps” vertically with the tip of the brush and only to the front of the hair. Balayage is currently the most requested coloring technique in salons today with lots of celebrities doing their hair in this fashion.